Enlightenment Imaginings

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

So I think I will get back to it. I have a large block of primed Pendraken Austrians. I think I will take them along with my British guns and form up a new fraction. I am fond of a blue-grey not far from RAF Blue so that will be the dominant uniform color, with the usual variations for Gentleman Cavalry and the like. Should be fun, and soothing stuff to paint.

Friday, August 3, 2012

I have been on an inventory and planning kick of late. In that spirit, here is an inventory of my figures for this project, organized by battalions and regiments. These figures are all base-coated and good to go.

I know I am coming back to this list, bacause I know that I have recently primed some figures I can't find. But this is most of them.

Style

Line

Grenadiers

LI

HC

Dragoons

Hussars

Guns

Howitzer

Brit

4

1

1

2

Prussian

1

1

3

1

1

Austrian

5

1

1

1

1

French

2

2

In addition, there are some not-yet-organized bits and pieces.

Mounted Leaders

3

Mounted Brigadiers

9

Dismounted Brig

2

Engineers

16

Nobles

6

Carriage

1

Siege Mortars

2

This is over 300 foot and almost 100 horse; probably another 60 figures beyond that. Counting hoses and guns at 2 points, this is the equivalent of painting about 600 foot.

Monday, June 18, 2012

The Bravantois siege of Sutz is in its fourth week, and supplies are short. Drakenburg has dispatched a supply column, escorted by a line infantry regiment, grenzers, and two regiments of horse.

As they are approach the fortress, they are surprised by a Bravantois battalion, responding rapidly to the alarm.

But they receive a poor reward for their promptness; the hussars and the lead battalion put paid to them rapidly.

An auspicious beginning for Drakenburg forces.

But the column does not go far before fresh threats are perceived on the right -- jaegers backed up by line infantry.

The cavalry moves to cover, while the column plans to divert by the road
farthest from he threat. The wagons will never manage cross country.

But as the advance moves around and prepares to climb the last hill before the fortress a Bravantois battalion that has crept to edge of the forest near the road charges out from ambush, hitting both the march column and the wagon train.

The wagoners run for their lives, while the undeployed infantry column, disordered by the attack, falls back to regroup. But, to add insult to injury, fresh Bravanois cavalry have smashed the covering Drakenburg horse, and now pile on to the struggling infantry.

Soon the situation for the column is quite untenable.

While the grenzers who have slipped past the enemy and raced away for help are too late; that small force is the sole aid the garrison receives. Nevertheless, the siege continues.

Friday, May 11, 2012

The origin of the aboriginal human inhabitants of the islands of New Jerusalem was discussed at the spring meeting of the Drakenburg Acadamy Of Sciences. The two leading theories are original settlement by the Lost Tribes of Israel, and by survivors from Atlantis.

Discussion rapidly became heated, and we are sorry to report that the meeting was adjourned without a final settlement of the matter under discussion. Followers of natural philosophy will, on the other hand, doubtless be delighted to learn that Professor von Sauerwitz is expected to make a full recovery from his wounds.

Geographically, I am thinking of a substantial landmass of varied geography surrounded by something of an archipelago. Many would be obvious former volcanic calderas, such as scaled up versions of this small Hawaiian island with fertile areas generated by extended erosion. This lets us have significant Naval operations; but still the area we have is large enough that some at least would be isolated from maritime interference.

Friday, May 4, 2012

Here's a place where we can deposit our Utopia. The Kingdom of Jerusalem controlled Aquaba from early in the 12th century through to about 1187. We can imagine our Europeans departing somewhere in the 1150s, perhaps deciding to escape the civil war that afflicted the kingdom of that time.

The Portuguese began to explore our little corner of the Indian ocean in the 1530s. That gives us around 350 years for initial development of our little community, and a further 200 from that rediscovery until our period of interest; a bit longer before the expansion of exploration makes discovery unavoidable later in the 18th century.

Records from the middle ages are scant enough to allow the disappearance of hundreds or even thousands of people to go unnoticed. We can put the last 200 years down to the work of the Society of New Jerusalem. The early explorers who returned to report small desert islands in the area came back wealthy -- and carefully watched -- men.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

I am weighing two choices in imagination creation - lets call them the large scale approach and the small scale approach.

The small scale approachis the traditional old-school wargaming method for fighting "age of reason" battles without being bound to actual history. Since the territory of the Holy Roman Empire was filled with small states it is a small step to co-opt a small bit of generic German geography and place the imagined states within it. In most maps I have seen the geopolitics are rather distorted - while conceptually the states are small, the armies they deploy and extent of their territories would really be significant in the mid 18th century.

The big plus of the small scale solution is that it allows the inclusion of historical states and the extended political context of the 1750s.

To my mind the big minuses are

It requires large scale distortions to include naval operations.

If I want to go beyond the conventional confines of 18th century gaming to include colonial or fantasy elements then conventional Europe is in the scuppers altogether.

The large scale approach is a bit bolder. Of course, fantasy maps from Middle-Earth to Westros have left us accustomed to imagined geographies resonant with our real world but with their own cultures and technology; however I also want a somewhat "firmer" rooting in the real world; not very firm, but the sort of mix of silly and plausible that sets hoaxes like the da'Vinci code, Chariots of the Gods, and vikings in Minnesota in the human imagination.

My idea for a large scale approach is to "create" a landmass in the Indian Ocean centering a bit north and east of the French Kerguelen Islands. The relic of lost Lemuria "was" discovered by a party of European crusaders of many nations attempting to find and recruit Prester John to their cause. They conquered and converted the natives, founded their own kingdoms, and prospered. They have never actually lost contact with Europe, sending their sons to Europe to study. Considering themselves as Europeans, they follow the latest trends of their parent nations with great dedication; the latest fashions and books from Paris are to be found in the new land sometimes before they reach some parts of Russia.

With that approach, I can include naval warfare, lace punk, elephants, Indians, and even ancient forces of lost Lemuria deeply inimical to the progress of man. It's a stretch, but then it is just a search for a fun context in which to place a gaming environment.